Day 7 – Saturday, October 8, 2022

We flew out of Ålesund to Tromsø with a short stopover in Bergen. Upon landing in Tromsø, the weather was looking rainy and gloomy. We checked into the hotel and I discovered I never ended up booking the Northern Lights tour! Luckily, they still had space so we booked right away for the evening with nerves that we might not see anything due to the clouds.

We wandered the city a bit before having dinner at Suvi, an Asian spot Chi suggested. I had the roasted duck with wrappers (i.e. Peking duck style) and Chi had the chicken katsu. He really enjoyed his and mine was not bad… for Norway.

At 6:00, we started our northern lights chase tour with Chasing Lights. While the forecast said rain and clouds all night in Tromsø, our tour company said to ignore it because they will chase clear skies somewhere and current conditions are no indication of being able to see the Northern Lights. She also told us that while our cameras pick up green, our eyes mostly see white with maybe a faint tint of green or pink. I was pretty surprised to hear that!

We drove to a microclimate area called Skibotn and our guide told us to come outside because there is northern lights activity. Everyone rushed out but to be honest, I couldn’t see anything. I don’t know if my eyes weren’t adjusted to the darkness yet or if the lights were just too faint. It just looked like clouds for the most part. Regardless, I started taking photos and saw green streaks in the camera to reveal that the lights were in fact there.

We stayed in this location all night. Eventually, I did recognize white bands and arches across the sky as the Northern Lights. At one point, we could see dancing lights above us. It only lasted for 10 seconds but this was magical. It was white with some pink and green hues moving like curtains in the wind. It appeared out of nowhere and then faded away just as quickly. That was the most impressive moment all night.

We left this area around 11pm and got back to our hotel early morning around 2am. We were both too excited to sleep right away and started looking at our photos right away. In my opinion, this natural phenomenon might look better in photos than our naked eyes can see. But when the lights were dancing, that was really special so I can see strong vivid activity be more impressive than what the camera can capture.

Day 8 – Sunday, October 9, 2022

This hotel didn’t have included breakfast so we took this opportunity to eat at a local cafe called Koseverden & Koselig Cafe. We had chicken noodle soup, Pirog (a puff pastry with chicken and cheese inside), and an omelet. It was very homey and Chi loved the chicken noodle soup. It was a great change from the usual free hotel breakfast.

We started our 3-hour drive after towards Lyngen North, our 360° glass igloo hotel. It was raining yet again but the landscape was still impressive with snow-capped mountains and little townhomes.

When we arrived, I was surprised to see only two igloos compared to the larger resort in Finland but this meant a quiet and peaceful stay. Our glass igloo was spacious, light, and airy. However, the view of the Lyngen Alps was covered in clouds but we were hoping it’d change. Chi went to use the hot tub while I stayed in the igloo and blogged until dinner time.

Dinner was included with our stay and it included 3 courses. We had fish soup, lamb appetizer, reindeer meat (which was too gamy for me), cod, Norwegian waffle, and carrot purée dessert. The food was presented nicely but the dishes were hit or miss.

After dinner, Chi was eager to get an outdoor fire started. It was cold outside but we stayed out hoping to catch the Northern Lights. I wasn’t expecting much since it was still pretty cloudy. But the skies were getting clearer and you can tell by the stars. And then in the far distance between the mountains, we saw faint green lights! The lights appeared as a band and slowly dispersed as they flickered in the sky. It was very exciting even though it was a smaller display.

After a while, we went back into our igloo and got ready to lie down and relax. We kept our lights off the entire time and watched the windows. As we were in bed, we saw a wide greenish band above us and we jolted up to admire it. The skies were really clear that night but by 1:30am, we were pretty tired in a warm comfortable bed… so we fell asleep. A couple of times that night, we both woke up to glance at the sky (and to go to the bathroom) but we didn’t notice anything. The stars were lovely though under our glass dome.

Day 9 – Monday, October 10, 2022

We woke up to morning rain before it cleared up and we could see the stunning Lynden Alps. We laid in bed watching them and admiring our little glass igloo. It was peaceful and wonderful.

Eventually, we woke up, got ready, and took a bunch of photos since the weather improved. We had breakfast at the main reception area and then we just didn’t want to leave.

We went for a quick walk, Chi hit the hot tub again (ugh so jealous!) and I sat around taking in the views more. The sun was even coming up in the afternoon so it was a nice change from the rain.

We finally started our drive back to Tromsø and the sunny blue sky weather was a nice treat. The views along the way were beautiful, serene, and charming.

We checked into our hotel, Scandi Ishavshotel and we had a lovely view in our room of the Arctic Cathedral. We had a wood-fired pizza from Casa Inferno, supposely the best pizza in norway… but it was just mediocre and uncomparable to Bæst in Copahagen.

We debated if we should take another Northern Lights chase tour for about $95 per person… but since we had our car rental, we thought let’s just drive out to the same spot and take a peek. The 1.5-hour drive there was pretty cloudy without a star in sight. When we arrived, conditions were the same… and stayed that way most of the night. We did have a small moment of clear skies and saw a faint streak of the Northern Lights. Nothing impressive compared to our first night. We drove back and headed to bed.